X-ray film-developing apparatus



Oct. 2, 1956 E. R. HARPER 2,764,920

x-RAY Fmmmvmopmc APPARATUS Filed Oct. 50, l1952 2 Sheetsl-Sheet 1 j INV NToR. @M i.

Oct. 2, 1956 E. R. HARPER 2,764,920

x-RAY FILM-DEVELOPING APPARATUS Filed oct. 50. 1952 -2 sheets-sheet 2 United States Patent X-RAY FILM-DEVELOPING APPARATUS Edwin R. Harper, Waltham, Mass.

Application October 30, 1952, Serial No. 317,724

6 Claims. (Cl. 95'-90) This invention relates to improvements in sectional X-ray lm processing tank units wherein one section is a pass section within which iilms may be passed through a -wall or partition separating a dark room and a light room. More particularly, the invention provides yimprovements in the pass section of such film processing tank units whereby X-ray iilms more readily may be passed within the pass section from one room to the other without danger of transmission of light through or around the pass section from the light room to the dark room. The invention includes means for supported transfer of films edgewise through the liquid in the pass section, with an arrangement of coacting sliding covers whereby the portion of the pass section in one room becomes manually closed before the portion thereof which is in the `otherroom is opened.

X-ray processing tank units of the general type to which the invention relates ordinarily will be made up of a series of tank sections with one or more tank sections in the d-ark room and one or more tank sections in the light room, and with a pass section extending through the wall or portion between the two roo-ms. The number and variety of sections employed in the respective rooms may vary according to particular desires or requirements, but the pass section of each may be generally the same in all installations although the pass section sometimes contains the'iixing agent, and sometimes contains wash Water if and when 'the iixer bath is provided in one of the tank sections in the dark room. Inasmuch as the features of the invention are equally applicable to pass sections in which the fixing step of the 'lm processing is accomplished and to pass sections in which only washing of films is accomplished, the invention is herein disclosed in connection with a wash pass section, it being-within the concept of the invention to embody the same novel features in pass sections designed to have the iixing step accomplished therein.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an X-ray film developing tank unit having a pass section for extending both into a dark room and into a light room with cover means for ensuring that its portion which is in one room will be closed before its portion which is in the other room is opened. The invention provides interacting sliding covers whereby two separate manual covermoving operations are required for opening either end of the pass section, the first of said operations being a movement `of one or more covers from closed position at one end ofthe pass section to closed position at the other end, and the second operation being a movement of still another cover, left behind in the performance of the first operation. f

Another object of the invention is to provide an X- ray film developing tank unit wherein a pass section is adapted to extend through a wall or partition between a dark room and a light room, with carrier means in the pass section whereby lms may be manually moved edgewise through liquid in lthe pass section from one of said rooms to the other, with cover means on the passr 2,764,920 'Patented Oct. 2, 1956 2 section whereby opening lof the pass 'section in one of the rooms involves a preliminary closing of the pass section in the other of said rooms, thereby ensuring against passage of light through the pass unit from the light room to the dark room.

A further object of the invention is to provide an X-ray iilm developing tank unit wherein `a pass section is adapted to extend through a partition between a dark room and a light room, with gravity-acting sealing means constantly sealing any opening between the partition and a movable cover for the pass section against passage of light.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a pass section for lm developing tank units wherein a iilm carrier supports films in planes for movement edgewise within the pass section when said carrier is moved toward either end of the pass section, the pass section having water therein, and the supported films being immersed in the water, with water circulating means in the pass chamber constantly circulating the water into Washing relation to the supported iilms.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein described may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevation of an X-ray developing tank unit embodying features of the invention, the room dividing panel being in cross section;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the unit of Fig. 1, with building wall portions and parts of the dividing panel in cross-section;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view on line 3--3 of Fig. 2, on a scale larger than that of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view on line 4 4 of Fig. l, on'a scale larger than that of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a detail cross-sectional View through a portion of the panel partition and through the light-seal associated therewith;

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the carriage frame which supports the lm holders, with film holders therein, a portion ofthe frame being broken away;

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view on line 7 7 of Fig. 6, the film holder, and the lm therein, being in` large part broken away; and

Fig. 8 shows one of applicants circulating units partly in elevation and partly in medial longitudinal crosssection.

.Referring tothe drawings, the illustrated embodiment of the invention as shown in Figures l and 2 includes three tank sections of which the section 10 is wholly within the dark room, to the right of the wall W which separates the dark room and the light room, and the section 12 is wholly within the light room, to the left of the wall W. The pass section 14 is partly in cach of the two rooms, with a vertical panel 16 at its central region for closing the opening 1S through wall W all around the pass section 14. As best seen in Fig. 2, the section 10 in the dark room may be divided into three compartments 20, 22 and 24 of which compartment 2i) may contain a developing agent, compartment 22, with one or more pitched drains, may contain water or other liquid, and compartment 24 may hold the `lining agent. Inasmuch as, in the illustrated embodiment, the fixing is done in the dark room prior to transfer of the iilms into the pass section 14, the illustrated pass section 14 will contain water and serves as Va wash compartment wherein one cr more circulating devices 26 is or are provided for vconstantly circulating waterwithin Vthe pass section into effective washing relation to films in the pass section. After the films have been inserted in the pass section 14 at the dark room end thereof, and have been passed to the light room end of the pass section, they may be removed for a final washing within the relatively large tank section 12 which preferably has one or more of the circulating devices 26 therein similar to the circulating means 26 in pass section 14. Also, the wash section 12 may have a pitched bottom drain, or a plurality of pitched drains, to facilitate emptying of the tank section.

Usually, it will be found desirable to provide a circulating means 26 in the solution compartment 22 of tank section 1G, for maintaining the solution in effective condition.

The invention is primarily concerned with structural features of the pass section 14 whose interior is designed lto slidably support a carrier frame indicated generally at 30 in Figures 2 4, 6 and 7, and to slidably support the inter-acting sliding covers 32, 34 and 36.

Referring more particularly to Figure 4, the pass section 14 comprises outer walls 38 and inner walls 40 between which substantial thicknesses of compressed cork 42, or the like, are enclosed. The front and rear portions of the inner walls 4i? are formed to provide a series of longitudinally extending horizontal shoulders or steps of which the lower most shoulders 44 constitute tracks for slidably supporting the carrier frame 3f), and the shoulders 46, 48 and 50 constitute tracks for slidably supporting the sliding covers 32, 34, 36 in slightly spaced horizontal planes above the carrier frame 3f), the lower cover 32 being narrower than the cover 34 next above it, and the upper cover 36 being wider than the cover 34 next below it. The upper cover 36 has upturned flanges 37, one at each end, for constituting hand grips for manipulating the upper cover from one end of the pass section to the other, and these same flanges may serve also for limiting movement of the top cover in either direction in conjunction with a gravity acting seal later described herein. The upper cover 36 also has a depending abutment 37 at one end of the cover for coaction with an opstanding hand grip abutment 34 at the corresponding end of the middle cover 34, the abutments 37 and 34 being at the left hand ends of covers 36, 34, as herein shown, and the abutment 37 being a little to the right of abutment 34 when covers 36 and 34 have their corresponding ends in alignment, as in Fig. 3 wherein all three covers have their corresponding ends in alignment with all of the covers closing the portion of the pass section which is in the light room. Hence, when the upper cover 36 is moved to the right from its position in Figure 3, to its position closing the portion of the pass section which is in the dark room, the covers 34 and 32 remain stationary and all of the pass section will be closed. A subsequent movement of cover 34 to the right opens the portion of the pass section which is in the light room because it carries cover 32 with it. A depending abutment 34 on the left hand end of cover 34 coacts with an upstanding abutment 32 on the left hand end of cover 32, a little to the right of abutment 34 when the covers 34, 32 are in vertical alignment, resulting in the mentioned simultaneous movement to the right of covers 34, 32.

When all of the covers are in vertical alignment closing the end of the pass section which is in the dark room, a movement of upper cover 36 to the left carries cover 34 with it through the coaction of the abutments 37 and 34'. In this case, the lower cover 32 remains stationary and must be subsequently moved to the left to open the dark room end of the pass section. Hence, two separate movements of covers is required before either end of the pass section may be opened, the first movement of a cover or covers from one closed position to another ensuring that one end of the pass section will be closed before the other end is opened. The right hand end of lower cover 32 preferably has an upstanding hand grip element 32 thereon to facilitate manual movement thereof after this 4 cover 32 has been exposed due to movement of covers 36, 34.

It is important that no light shall pass between the upper cover 36 and the vertical panel i6, and an automatic gravity acting seal constantly seals any opening or crack that otherwise might pass light between the panel and cover 36. As best seen in Fig. 5, an inverted channel member 52 is secured to the panel 16 above cover 36 and extends substantially throughout the width of cover 36. Another inverted channel member 54 is slidably received within channel member 52 and carries a sealing strip 56, of rubber or the like, whose lower surface rests against cover 36 substantially throughout the width of the latter. Inverted channel 54, with sealing strip 56, constantly tends by gravity to keep strip 56 in engagement with cover 36, thus sealing the juncture against passage of light while permitting necessary sliding movements of cover 36. Carrier frame 30 is adapted to removably receive X-ray film holders of the more or less conventional type which is best illustrated in Fig. 7. Opposite endwalls of the carrier frame are notched at 31 (see Fig. 4) for reception of the ends of the suspension rod 58 of each film holder, with the generally U-shaped wire portion 66 of the holder hanging between the end walls of carrier frame 3). Upper clips 62 on suspension rod 58 are adapted to receive and hold the upper edge margin of an X-ray film F and lower clips 64 on the wire portion 6i) are adapted to receive and hold the lower edge margin of the film. it will be obvious that a considerable number of film holders may be suspended in general parallelism in carrier frame 30, and it is a feature that the film holders, and the films thereon, are carried edgewise parallel to the front wall of the pass section 14 when carrier frame 30 is moved in `either direction through the water, or other liquid, in the pass section, as distinguished from prior proposals which have required the films to be moved broadside through the liquid bath in the pass section, with the liquid offering substantially greater resistance to movement of the holders and films. if the liquid bath in the pass chamber is a fixing solution, applicants edgewise movement of the films involves no loss of efficiency of fixing action so long as the films remain in the fixing solution for a predetermined period of time. On the other hand, when the pass section contains water and serves as a wash compartment, as herein illustrated, the circulating means 26 in the pass section 14 causes continuous circulation of the water in the pass section in a manner to more effectively wash the films as compared with prior broadside travel of films through the water. Films in applicants pass section become more uniformly washed than has been possible with the prior comparable structures.

Referring now to Fig. 8, each circulating means 26, in the pass section 14, wash section 12 and solution compartment 22, may be constructed as shown in Figure t3, wherein an inner small diameter nozzle 66 having a tapering bore 68 delivers axially into a larger-diameter nozzle 70 having a cylindrical bore 72 and having its inner end open into a chamber 74 which extends around the smaller nozzle 66. A relatively large opening 76 in the outer wall of the chamber 76 provides a passage for water to enter chamber 76, and relatively large volumes of water are induced to enter chamber 76 by the action of the inner nozzle 66 discharging into the bore of the larger nozzle, and the inflowing water joins the stream delivering from the larger nozzle. Each circulating unit 26 is immersed in the liquid to be circulated and may have a threaded portion 26' thereon for connection of the unit to a source of pressure supply of the liquid which is to be circulated, the supply delivering to the smaller nozzle 66 which delivers a forceful stream into the bore of the larger nozzle, thereby to create the mentioned large volume inflow of liquid into chamber '74 from the compartment or section in which a particular circulating unit 26 is located. It frequently is found desirable to provide two or more such circulating units in a compartment or tank section, depending on the size of any particular compartment or tank section.

When X-ray films are being processed in the illustrated apparatus, each film will be immersed in the liquid within the developing compartment 20, and then immersed in water, or other liquid, in compartment 22, followed by immersion in the fixing agent within compartment 24. A conventional recessed X-ray safelight is indicated at 78, Within the dark room, in front of which any film may be held for examination before or at any stage of the developing process. Following the fixing stage, each film, held in a film holder, will be deposited on the carriage frame 30 within the pass section 14, the covers 36, 34, 32 being shifted, as earlier described herein, to first close the light room end of the pass section before opening the dark room end thereof for reception of the films. When the films have been deposited in carrier frame 30, the frame will be manually pushed along its tracks 44 to or toward the light room end of the pass chamber from which they may be removed for a final washing in tank section 12 above which two conventional recessed X-ray illuminators 80 are provided. However, before the light room end of the pass section may be opened for removal of the processed wet films, the upper cover 36 is moved to close the dark room end of the pass section, carrying cover 34 with it but leaving lower cover 32 closing the light room end. Access to the interior of the light room end of the pass section may then be had by manually opening lower cover 32.

It is intended that the patent shall cover, by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

i claim as my invention:

l. In a film processing tank unit, an open top pass section tank adapted to hold a substantial body of liquid and having length for extending through an opening in a partition between a dark room and a light room with one end portion disposed in the dark room and the opposite end portion disposed in the light room, means closing said partition opening all around the pass section tank, a film carrier slidably mounted within the pass section tank and movable between the ends of the tank, said lm carrier being adapted to receive and support a film generally in a vertical plane with the film immersed in said liquid and with opposite edges of the hlm facing in the directions of movement of' said film carrier, three sliding covers for said open top of the pass section tank, said covers being slidably mounted in three spaced generally horizontal planes and each having length slightly more than half thelength of said open top of the pass section tank, and inter-acting -abutments on said covers whereby, when all of the covers are closing one end of the pass section tank, a movement of the upper cover to close the other end of the tank leaves a lower cover stationary to be subsequently opened for getting access to the tank at its said end which originally was closed by all of the covers.

2. In a film processing tank unit, an open top pass section tank adapted to hold 'a substantial body of liquid and having length for extending through an opening in a partition between a dark room and a light room with one end portion disposed in the dark room andthe opposite end portion disposed in the light room, means closing said partition opening all around the pass section tank, a lm carrier slidably mounted within the pass section tank and movable between the ends of the tank, said hlm carrier being adapted to receive and support a plurality of films in spaced generally parallel vertical planes with the films immersed in said liquid and with opposite edges of each film facing in the directions of movement of the film carrier, a plurality of interacting slidable covers for said open top of the pass section tank, said covers being movable to entirely close said open top of the pass section tank and one cover being separately movable to open one end of the pass section tank after another cover has closed the opposite end, and means immersed in said liquid for circulating the liquid into washing relation to the films supported on said lm carrier.

3. In a film processing tank unit, an elongated pass section tank adapted to hold a substantial body of liquid for extending through a passage in a partition between a dark room and a light room with one end disposed in said dark room and the other end disposed in said light room, said tank having a top opening extending from said one end through said passage to said other end, a film holder mounted within said tank for sliding from said one end to said other end, said film lholder being adapted to support a subst-antially flat film immersed in said liquid substantially in a generally vertical plane extending in the direction of elongation of said tank, three covers for said top opening slidable in the direction of elongation of said tank substantially in adjacent generally horizontal planes, the length of each of said covers being slightly greater than half the length of said opening, a first lug depending from the uppermost cover of said three, a second lug upstanding from the medial cover of said three, a third lug depending from said medial cover, and a fourth lug upstanding from the lowermost cover of said three, said first lug abutting against said second lug in order to slide said medial cover in unison with said uppermost cover when said uppermost cover is slid in one direction, said third lug abutting against said fourth lug in order to slide said lowermost cover in unison with said medial cover when said medial cover is slid in the opposite direction.

4. In a film processing tank unit, the pass section tank of claim 3, wherein the elongated edges of said tank are stepped to provide a first pair of shoulders guiding said film holder, a second pair of shoulders guiding said lowermost cover, a third pair of shoulders guiding said medial cover, and -a fourth pair of shoulders guiding said uppermost cover.

5. In a film processing tank unit, the pass section tank of claim 3, wherein an inverted channel member is affixed to the upper edge of said passage and a seal slidable in said channel is pressed continuously against said uppermost cover.

6. In a film processing tank unit, the pass section tank of claim 3, wherein a circulating means is immersed in said fluid, said circulating means comprising an input nozzle and an output nozzle in axial alignment, and a wall joining said input nozzle and said output nozzle, said wall having an opening, whereby a minor stream of said uid through said input nozzle causes a major stream of said tiuid through said output nozzle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 725,052 Sloan Mar. 3, 1903 1,222,654 Mischansky Apr. 17, 1917 1,358,623 DAlbert Nov. 9, 1920 2,545,031 Izzi Mar. 13, 1951 

